Redirect user to desktop browser in windows 8

Question

Is there a way to force or prompt a user to use the windows 8 desktop browser if they hit my web page with the windows 8 RT browser? I want to be able to use plugins like Silverlight.

Answer 1

Yes, you can prompt users to switch to the Desktop version. Microsoft added this as a fallback for sites that need it. (But not with JavaScript)

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ie/archive/2012/01/31/web-sites-and-a-plug-in-free-web.aspx

Developers with sites that need plug-ins can use an HTTP header or meta tag to signal Metro style Internet Explorer to prompt the user.

HTTP Header

X-UA-Compatible: requiresActiveX=true

META Tag

<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="requiresActiveX=true" />

Metro style IE10 detects these flags, and provides the consumer a one-touch option to switch to IE10 on the desktop:

Microsoft is strongly encouraging us, however, to move to an HTM5 plug-in free world. Whether that happens or not remains to be seen, but it wouldn't surprise me if they made it harder and harder to use plug-ins in the future. They're the source of plenty of security holes.

So long-term, it might be better to start eliminating the use of plug-ins in your code. That makes sense considering the plethora of Android, IOS, and other tablets and phones out there. Cross-platform web development has never been more important than it is now, and I'm betting that will continue to be the trend.